Thursday, October 29, 2015

Flyer being distributed by Campbell campaignviolates a longstanding city and Board of Ed policy.

Plainfield city council candidate John Campbell Jr. has broken a key rule in Plainfield politics, and it ought to cost him any support as a credible candidate.

For as long as anyone can remember, both the city and the school district have had a policy of no political campaigning on public property.

Yet Campbell's team has scheduled a political campaign event (see the flyer above) for Sunday afternoon at Leland Park, which is Board of Ed property.

Not only is Campbell breaking a longstanding rule by having the event in
the park, the school district -- under the control of his mother (who
is Board of Ed president) and his father (who is a candidate for a Board
of Ed seat) -- gave Campbell supporters permission to use the park.

Talk about abuse of power!

School district maintenance crews were even spotted by a resident on
Tuesday, cleaning up the park to make it nice and spiffy for Baby John's
event.

Just a foretaste of what you could expect from another Campbell in public office?

There is just one fly in Baby John's ointment: As of Thursday morning,
no one from Campbell's team had bothered to even apply for a city permit approved by the Director of Public Safety, which is also necessary for use of the park for a public event.

That leaves the likelihood that the event may not be allowed to take place anyway.

Unless, of course, schools superintendent Anna Belin Pyles intervenes and revokes the permission as in violation of established Board of Ed policy.

Plainfield resident since 1983. Retired as the city's Public Information Officer in 2006; prior to that Community Programs Coordinator for the Plainfield Public Library. Founding member and past president of: Faith, Bricks & Mortar; Residents Supporting Victorian Plainfield; and PCO (the outreach nonprofit of Grace Episcopal Church). Supporter of the Library, Symphony and Historic Society as well as other community groups, and active in Democratic politics.